Having read Kim's story below, you may feel that we have been slightly extravagant in having three massages and a pedicure in the space of less than two days, but allow me to say in our defence that this is our equivalent of the hard partying that we are not doing because of our middle-agedness (refer to Kim's entry below). We feel that these activities highly enhance our Thai experience.
This experience was also added to by one of the touts who Kim mentioned below, who was trying to convince us that things were closed when they weren't- he was so enraged that we didn't fall for his ill-disguised lies that he shouted "STUPID" after us in venomous tones as we walked away. The tosser also wrote in my book in ink! Another notable experience was walking along, trying to eat squid noodles with chopsticks out of a plastic plate on a bustling road (and chopsticks are not my forte anyway....) when I noticed a large rat running along the wall parallel to Kim, at head height- charming.
We were quite impressed with everything we managed to do today though- we were even more impressed by the reclining Buddha (we have tried to take photos so that you can appreciate the scale of it) and the vastness of the palace and temple complex that houses the emerald Buddha. And being us, we managed to find lots of food that impressed us! Highlights include prawns in a tomotoey sauce with cashew nuts served inside a coconut, and betel leaves stuffed with ginger, coconut, peanut, lime, shallott, dried shrimp and a sweet kind of sauce. We apologise in advance for all the photos of food that we will make people look at on our return!
We shall keep you informed of our adventures!
love Safia
